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August 30, 2012

New Illustrator features now available to Cloud subscribers

“When we launched Creative Cloud,” said my boss Jeff Veen, “we said that one of biggest benefits was early access to Adobe innovation. As soon as our engineering teams can finalize new features, like the ones we’re seeing for Illustrator today, we will release special Creative Cloud editions of our desktop software, only available to Adobe Creative Cloud members.”

New features in this Adobe Illustrator release:

Package Files – a long-requested feature that allows designers to automatically collect all the files used in an Illustrator project, including linked graphics and fonts, into a single folder helping make handoffs and sharing of projects more efficient and error-free.

Unembed Images – a new capability that enables production artists to quickly unembed images that have been embedded into an Illustrator file by other designers or customers, eliminating much wasted time in day-to-day production work.

Links Panel Enhancements – a new feature enhancement that allows users to access and track information on any artwork placed in an Illustrator file much quicker. What used to require multiple clicks to ensure all placed graphics meet necessary requirements for output is now surfaced up front.”

Important: Files remain fully compatible between copies of Illustrator CS6, whether those copies are acquired through subscription (and thus able to take this update) or through traditional licensing.

For more info on what these updates mean, please check out my recent post (which includes lots of back-and-forth in the comments).

Comments

Sylvain Lemire — 8:40 AM on August 30, 2012

At my small business, we’re longtime user of Adobe CS apps. Recently, we have updated to CS6, not with the cloud option but the regular paid upgrade. At the time, there was no solution for group cloud support. I’m still baffled by Adobe wanting to prohibit new features access to long-time paying customers. This twist-my-arm-so-I-adopt-your-new-business-model just makes me angry. When I give thousands of dollar to Adobe each year, I expect a better attitude.

Sylvain, Rich, as stated in the other post’s comments, it is an US legislation that prohibits adding features for free on perpetual licences when their sales are reported quarterly. Read on Sarbanes-Oxley. The new cloud option accounting model allows it, to they implemented the free updates where they could.

Apple cited something like this in 2007 when they made people pay 99¢ for a driver that activated wireless N in their laptops. It’s total BS, of course. OS X gains new features all the time. The 10.8.2 update added Facebook integration. iOS updates are all free and add tons of new features. My Finepix X100 is a year old and just got a firmware update that adds the ability to use it’s buttons in different ways. All of these are free.

Rich Morey — 10:27 AM on August 30, 2012

I’m a cloud subscriber but I think its bogus that Adobe is not making these updates available to all CS6 users. It was bad enough when they were tools added to CSx when I was running CS(x-1) but at least I knew if I upgraded I could have access to those updated tools. I think this approach to software updates will further alienate users who were already opposed to the cloud based model.

I’m just not getting the Cloud message and judging from comments on the NAPP Forum where I wondered aloud about the Adobe cloud concept, it is clear that other people feel that Adobe are getting it very badly wrong this time round.

I am convinced that the iron fist in a velvet glove concept is just not going to work and my sense of brand loyalty is now being seriously challenged. This is a great pity because I just love my Adobe software, your blog and most of what comes with Adobe products including a strong sense of belonging.

But….sorry….the cloud model just isn’t for me and as a ‘standard user’ I’m feeling disenfranchised and I’m also starting to get that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. We’re taking in water….make for the lifeboats!

My company also purchased a pile of licenses before a group cloud option was available. We teach the product, and now our students versions and ours will grow steadily out of sync unless we double our expense and get a cloud account on top of our already substantial purchase.

I’ve been advocating for Creative Cloud since early. It really does seem a good deal for most. I just wish I didn’t feel ripped off now.

Re: the comment from PECourtejoie…c’mon, really? Why do I get new features with updates to all other software I’ve purchased? Are other software companies rampant law breakers? I doubt it.

Steve: because they report their sales differently. IANAL, maybe someone with more expertize in legislation can chime in. But this has prevented updates in the past. I know that Lightroom is accounted differently, and that’s why they have been able to push updates after the quarter of release. But I know it is part of Sarbanes-Oxley.

I think Adobe needs to be very careful about pushing this “only available to certain kind of paying customer” story. This could fire back on them.

Good luck for Adobe explaining big customers paying hundred thousands of dollars that they cannot have the latest greatest things because they were not on the right licensing train.

Subscription is not a good option for everybody, like car leasing is not, offering both is great, forcing users to move to one is bad.

Dave — 5:02 PM on August 30, 2012

People who work for institutional customers who were given no choice aside, I don’t understand why this is angering people so much. They announced how this was going to work before you could even buy. Did these angry people just not believe them? in fact, they even explained why some products that they expected to update very regularly would *only* have a subscription option.

For those who aren’t getting these “extras” now because they decided the perpetual lisence was right for them*, you do realize you weren’t going to be seeing these feature until the next paid upgrade whether Creative Cloud existed or not, right?

It isn’t like your copy of CS6 now suddenly doesn’t do what they promised when you spent your thousands of dollars on upgrades and it isn’t as if they are removing features.

*I felt the perpetual lisence was still the way to go for me so I’m not getting these features either but as long as these new things being added don’t result in compatibility issues with saved files I need to open in my horribly outdated copy of CS6, I fail to see how Adobe has wronged me in any way, here. Maybe someone can express in practical terms about what is going on now to explain what is wrong without involving irrational knee-jerk reaction and without hypothetical theory of how this will impact what may or may not happen in the future. A school teaching it without these features I can understand being a problem (although those educational discounts are pretty sweet) but what about typical users? Am I missing something?

Jack Nack — 10:15 PM on August 30, 2012

Adobe knows how to treat loyal customers.

[You’re unironically right. –J.]

Randy Hagan — 5:04 AM on August 31, 2012

Will these incremental features/upgrades be offered to corporate clients with licensing maintenance agreements?

If so, it would seem that a lot of the hue and cry accusing Adobe of abandoning corporate customers would be moot. If not, it’d be a good way to quell folks. and perhaps Adobe could consider it.

Jim Pogozelski — 6:26 AM on August 31, 2012

For whatever reason I consider myself a pro at the Adobe apps. I see that today they released a dot update to AI and PS and some others to all users (I have the disc version of M. Collection CS6). So, good!

I worked around “package” features in AI for 10 years, it won’t kill me to wait for that. I’ll survive using the clipboard to extract images from AI like I always have. As long as bugs get posted to all paying customers I’m OK.

Maybe Adobe is going for the casual user (in bulk) and enticing them with exiting (or not) features. I don’t know or care about the business theory at Adobe. Agency and self-employed design pros can wait them out.

So this dot release for all makes me feel better about buying the non-monthly CS6. Thanks for releasing them.

Peter — 3:33 AM on September 01, 2012

it´s like autodesk.

pay more to get what you have got earlier for less.

[Or, to put it a more factual way, you get more than what was available earlier, at a radically lower barrier to entry. –J.]

and the morons think it´s a good idea….

Jeremy — 5:20 PM on September 10, 2012

Nothing has changed in regard to the way things work for those who buy the boxed version of the software. The software will do everything it was advertised to do when they purchased it. Sure, sometimes I see what the waiter brings someone else after I have already ordered my meal at a restaurant, but I don’t raise a stink about it. I eat what I ordered and remember that for next time.

These people are simply (after the fact) seeing the benefits of the Creative Cloud model, which they likely originally disregarded as viable. Now, they are jealous. I am glad I immediately saw the benefit this model would provide me. I am thrilled to have access to a feature-set I would have otherwise been unable to afford.

I have been upset with Adobe in the past for other things (such as ceasing development of software that were core to my business without releasing an alternative, pricing software outside the budgets of the average person, and so on). However, this is one time I can actually say BRAVO to Adobe for thinking outside the box and providing get customers with immense value for a fair price.

I’m sorry not everyone feels this way, but I for one am thrilled and hope this is effort if hugely successful for Adobe so that they will continue it indefinitely.

Alex — 3:01 PM on May 09, 2013

It’s time for the CEO of Adobe to step down. This is an unmitigated disaster for Adobe’s customer relations to say the least.